OH YEAH

HEALTH CARE NOW

Won't you come home, Billzebub? Won't you come home?

Just post under your Got-damn long-term handle, Paulsy.

congress seems to be getting their exercise this evening

oh man this republican rebuttal...

This republican response is a hot mess. Did he write this before he read Obama's speech?

holding applause (or at least the standing) would make these speeches so much more bearable.

I enjoyed the part where he scolded the Republicans about the death panel stuff mainly because I enjoy uncomfortable situations. And it qualified.

"You lie!!!"

Yeah WTF?

You're a real man Deion.


FWIW, I thought this was a great speech and his best as President so far.

Anybody know what the Republicans kept holding up in their hands?

Very Parliament-ary feel to tonight. That incident, the "boo"s, that nimrod with the "What Bill?" sign and the bit where Repubs in concert held up what looked to be identical packets of something or other - on that I'll admit, my radar's been tuned elsewhere the last week or so.

I wonder if Obama called Joe Kennedy earlier today and told him he was going to use Teddy's corpse as an on-ramp to get this thing moving. Whatever it takes, I suppose.

That was insane. The Repug response was to bring forth 6 proposals for health reform - 5 of the 6 cribbed directly from the Obama plan, and the 6th the straw man of cross state competition in insurance? You guys need a real second party STAT.

So Joe Wilson's Twitter page has added a couple thousand people tonight and his Web site is shut down now.

so do I have healthcare yet? I need a valium.

I had crab stuffed piquillo peppers and shrimp and grits with a martini for my healthc...er dinner with the wife.

I'll care about healthcare when someone starts paying me to advocate for one of the sides.

dailykos says those papers were republican-sponsored plans of some sort, to combat the idea that they don't have a plan

also reported, joe wilson's district opponent raised almost $10K in under an hour after You-Lie-Gate

My buddy who works for National Journal said it's HR 3200 - the "death panel" bill.

you mean it includes death panels?

it's a draft version of something or other that has some sort of panels in it. Or something. This info was from a three-line exchange on Gchat, so don't put a whole lot of stock into how I interpreted it.

I just caught a replay of the speech and the response.

I was impressed by this speech. I'm an open Obama homer, but I felt that prior to tonight, he had fumbled this whole healthcare debate, mostly through lack of leadership and real direction. Instead, what I saw was the administration letting Congressional knuckleheads run around and do what they do. Basically, the opposite of Hillary Clinton's closed-door approach.

About midway through this speech, it seemed more likely that opponents, and more specifically the GOP, had been outsmarted.

He let the bullshit happen out in front of him. Death panels and other scare tactics and general nutjobbery. It's been consuming the news for weeks. But now, as it had died down and it's time to get to work, he stepped right up to the plate, called foul on the bullshit, and stated in simple, clear terms, what he expects for health care reform.

He didn't dance around the bullshit either. He took it head on and appropriately labeled the lies.

I really liked the public vs. private university comparison. I thought the GOP, especially Boehner, Cantor and Ryan looked like minor leaguers. The outcries and props were just silly, and they looked silly. I tried listening to Boustany, but he's an amateur and I can't even suffer through his four and a half minutes.

The fact remains: less than one year ago, Barack Obama defeated John McCain 53-46, with a healthcare reform as a prominent piece of his campaign. The Democrats have significant advantages in both houses of Congress. This speech won't do shit for Ben Nelson or the birthers, but I do think it will alleviate some of the fear and suspicion of voters in the middle. It's just not a scary idea, and many many many people have been fucked by the insurance companies.

I like the way this kicks off the fall. Whether or not Pryor, Lincoln, Landrieu, Bayh, etc. get on board is another story, but maybe someone in the Senate will twist their nuts just right to allow cloture, and thus a straight vote, rather than this ridiculous 60-vote Senate dance.

Obama is just so good at seeing things miles ahead of other people... he gets his opponents all riled up thinking they are causing him damage, and then, next thing you know, he's winning again.

ROPE-A-DOPE.... then as he's passing you, beep beep motherf**kers.

Joe Wilson put a huge crimp in his chances for re-election.

Oh wait -he's from South Carolina. Never mind.

Yeah that was well done: a little bit of a stretch but well done nonetheless.

Oh, and the reason that Boehner and Cantor look like amateurs to you is that they are: ITS THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. Everybody in that body is an amateur.

Personally, I thought the speech was a bit tepid and didn't bring anything new to the table and he tried hard to not take anything off the table or commit to anything specific without leaving himself an out.

He's a President that is what they are supposed to do. When did the Legislative Branch give up their duties to the Executive branch?, or maybe I should ask when did the American Public suddenly believe that the President must lay out detailed legislative policy in his speeches and press releases?

Congress is supposed to all the work and then the President either gets all the glory or most of the blame.